Review:
How to Witness: 3 Things You Need to Make Clear!
- Make It Clear: This is About God. (Acts 3:11-12)
- Make it Clear: We Are Guilty but God is Gracious. (Acts 3:13-18)
- Make It Clear: A Response is Required. (Acts 3:19-26)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:01-00:05
Open up your Bibles with me please to Acts 3.
00:07-00:08
Acts 3.
00:09-00:12
This is a quick review where we left off in the book of Acts.
00:13-00:19
Remember we saw that Jesus promised the disciples - this is our theme for the year.
00:19-00:22
Everything in the book of Acts comes from Acts 1.8.
00:23-00:37
Jesus promised His disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." Jesus said He was going to ascend into heaven, and He did, and after He ascended, the Holy Spirit was going to come and indwell God's people.
00:39-00:41
Jesus said you will receive power.
00:41-00:46
And I question Jesus, why are we going to receive power?
00:47-00:51
Well, Jesus said the reason that we receive His power is so that we may be His witnesses.
00:52-00:58
He said you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth.
00:59-01:00
I've shared with you before.
01:00-01:02
That's how ministry is set up at Harvest Bible Chapel.
01:02-01:06
Judea - your immediate backyard.
01:07-01:12
You should be inviting friends and family and neighbors to come and worship with you here at Harvest Bible Chapel.
01:13-01:15
Judea and Samaria - that's what our small group does.
01:15-01:17
That's getting out into the community.
01:17-01:22
At Ends of the World, we are involved in mission work where we send people to Romania.
01:22-01:24
I was in Thailand in November.
01:24-01:25
That's the end of the world.
01:25-01:26
The mission is the same.
01:29-01:31
The glorious news is the power is still the same.
01:32-01:36
The power of God's Holy Spirit living within us.
01:36-01:39
So, Jesus ascends to heaven and the Holy Spirit comes.
01:39-01:46
And on Pentecost, Peter preached Christ and 3,000 people got saved.
01:46-01:49
And then we saw the power of unity in the early church.
01:49-01:54
And when we got to Acts 3, last time, do you remember?
01:54-01:59
Peter and John, walking into the temple, He healed a lame beggar.
02:00-02:04
And everyone recognized this man and they were amazed.
02:05-02:06
It drew quite a crowd.
02:06-02:08
And then Peter got up to preach.
02:10-02:31
Before we look at the text, just kind of setting the stage here, you know, just like in Pentecost when the Lord was having the apostles speak in other languages and that drew a crowd, here we get to Acts 3 And the healing of this lame man draws another crowd.
02:31-02:36
You know, there are times that God just does things to get people's attention.
02:38-02:41
The question is what do you do when you have that opportunity?
02:43-02:45
You know what I'm talking about, right?
02:46-02:49
You know, I think of the Stroops last year.
02:50-02:53
Little Milo being in the hospital and the way God was at work in their lives.
02:55-02:59
And that gave them opportunity to talk about the Lord with people.
03:00-03:03
And there are things that God's going to bring into your life.
03:05-03:09
Many of you know last week - this time last week, my wife was in ICU.
03:10-03:13
She was in a life-threatening situation with some diabetic complications.
03:14-03:17
And this week, she feels better than ever.
03:17-03:19
And that's the power of prayer.
03:21-03:27
But that gives me an opportunity Tell people, this is the power of God.
03:28-03:31
Let me tell you the difference that Jesus Christ can make in your life.
03:33-03:42
So when God gives you opportunity, whatever He's doing in your life, when He gives you opportunity, what do you do when you get that opportunity?
03:44-03:46
You know, it comes at work sometimes, right?
03:46-03:58
Maybe you're having a conversation and somebody brings up God or the Bible or church, and you feel like, you know, I really probably maybe should say something right now since the subject is on the table.
03:58-03:59
What do you do?
04:00-04:02
What do you do when that family member is in crisis?
04:03-04:05
And it's so obvious to you as a follower of Christ.
04:05-04:07
I know exactly what this person needs.
04:08-04:11
This person needs to give their life to Jesus Christ.
04:11-04:16
This person needs to - how do I roll that out to a family member?
04:16-04:19
What do you do when you have and the authority to witness.
04:21-04:23
That's what we're going to be talking about this morning.
04:24-04:33
Again, Acts 1:8 God gave us power of the Holy Spirit so that we would be witnesses for Him.
04:34-04:36
In Harvest Bible Chapel, we sit on four pillars.
04:37-04:40
The first pillar is proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology.
04:41-04:42
We believe God wrote a book.
04:42-04:48
That's why every week when somebody stands up here We preach it comes from the Word of God.
04:49-04:53
Our second pillar is lifting high the name of Jesus in worship.
04:54-04:56
And we certainly did that this morning.
04:57-04:58
Spirit and truth.
04:59-05:01
Our third pillar is believing firmly in the power of prayer.
05:02-05:05
I've seen that in a very graphic way this past week in our own home.
05:06-05:11
But you know, we have this fourth pillar that for a lot of us, it's very uncomfortable.
05:12-05:15
And the fourth pillar is sharing in the views of Jesus with boldness.
05:17-05:18
Witnessing scares a lot of us.
05:19-05:21
We're afraid of rejection.
05:21-05:22
We're afraid of hostility.
05:22-05:25
We're afraid that people might think we're weirdos.
05:26-05:28
We're afraid of questions that we might get.
05:29-05:32
I'd like to remind you that Jesus' last command is my first priority.
05:34-05:46
The last thing Jesus told the disciples before He ascended was, "You're going to be My witnesses." as a pastor, understand that my job is to help equip you for the work of the ministry.
05:47-05:50
So we're going to do something a little bit different with the text today.
05:51-06:06
As we look at this sermon that Peter gives in Acts 3, we're not just going to be looking at what Peter shared, but what I want you to do today is I want you to look at how Peter shared the Gospel.
06:08-06:15
Studying this passage this week, This is the most comprehensive Gospel sermon that someone could imagine.
06:16-06:24
Because Peter covers all of the major themes, all of the important things that you've got to talk about when you're sharing the Gospel with someone.
06:25-06:26
And I want us to look at those ingredients.
06:27-06:37
And as we look at these ingredients and as we trust in the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave, we are going to grow as more effective witnesses for Jesus Christ.
06:38-06:43
In your outline, I tried to sort of simplify it.
06:43-06:44
We have a big chunk of text here.
06:45-06:50
So in your outline, how to witness three things you need to make clear.
06:52-06:59
Number one is this, when you're witnessing to somebody, we're going to take a lesson off of Peter here.
06:59-07:03
Number one, make it clear this is about God.
07:05-07:06
This is about God.
07:06-07:07
in verses 11 and 12.
07:09-07:13
It says, "He - that's the beggar that was just healed - well, he clung to Peter and John.
07:13-07:19
All the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.
07:19-07:26
And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people." So we're going to look at how Peter preached.
07:26-07:27
Everybody with me?
07:27-07:28
Look at the first thing he says.
07:29-07:34
"Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?
07:34-07:44
"Why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made Him walk?" Let's stop there.
07:44-07:52
The first thing Peter did right out of the gate and the thing I would commend to you right out of the gate when you're witnessing - make it clear this is about God.
07:53-08:02
Peter said, "Why are you looking at us?" And if we're honest, we can sort of understand why the crowd seemed fixated on them.
08:02-08:04
I mean, let's be honest.
08:04-08:05
You can understand that, right?
08:06-08:07
Here's a lame guy.
08:07-08:08
He's been there forever.
08:08-08:09
Everybody knows this guy.
08:09-08:16
And all of a sudden, Peter and John stroll through and they're like, "In the name of Jesus, get up!" And the guy's now walking around.
08:16-08:21
Of course, people are going to look to them like, these guys are like superheroes.
08:21-08:23
How did you do that?
08:24-08:26
Peter very quickly says, "No, no, no, no, no.
08:27-08:28
Don't look at us.
08:28-08:39
We have power to do that." In church, it's really easy - you're looking at this point right now, this is about God, I can't believe we're talking about this in church, isn't this obvious?
08:40-08:45
It's really easy sometimes when we're witnessing to think that it's about us.
08:48-08:50
For positive reasons and for negative reasons.
08:51-08:52
Let me explain.
08:54-08:57
Sometimes we think it's about us for good reasons.
08:58-09:01
my personality, my creativity, my popularity.
09:04-09:05
It's a weekly struggle for me.
09:07-09:10
And I pray this so often you have no idea.
09:11-09:14
I say, God, I don't want to put on a show.
09:14-09:15
I don't want to draw people to myself.
09:15-09:19
I want to passionately explain Your Word.
09:21-09:32
I'm constantly praying that, God, I don't want people leaving here and saying, "Jeff is a good speaker." I don't want that because there's a part of me that wants that.
09:33-09:34
But I don't want that.
09:35-09:37
Because it's not about me, it's about God.
09:40-09:41
It's real easy to say look what I did.
09:42-09:48
I had somebody tell me one time they were out street preaching and witnessing and handing out tracts, which I think is incredible.
09:49-09:52
But what I didn't like was their evaluation of the results.
09:53-09:57
and said, "I saved 17 people last night." And I said, "Oh, you did?
09:59-10:03
I did not know you were the Savior." But we start to think it's about us.
10:05-10:09
For the good, but another danger is we start to think it's about us maybe for the bad.
10:10-10:14
That we try to witness and then we walk away and we're like, "I'm the worst witness ever!
10:15-10:17
I don't know enough!
10:17-10:18
What if I blew it?
10:18-10:20
Should have said more?
10:20-10:34
Should have said less?" You know, they ask some questions You know the answer to, all in favor of a word of encouragement, the pressure isn't on us to save anyone.
10:36-10:38
None of us can save anyone.
10:38-10:43
Jesus didn't promise that we would receive power to save, did He?
10:44-10:46
What did He say? We would receive power to what?
10:47-10:48
Go ahead and say it.
10:49-10:49
Witness!
10:50-10:54
He said we'd receive power to witness, What power to save?
10:55-10:57
That's his department exclusively.
11:00-11:04
Because the tool is not the thing.
11:04-11:06
Nobody gives credit to the guitar.
11:07-11:13
I don't see people after worship coming up going, "You did such a good job today.
11:13-11:18
That was really good what you did today." Nobody gives credit to that thing.
11:19-11:21
The credit goes to the one that's using it.
11:23-11:27
Nobody gives credit to the paintbrush or to the hammer.
11:29-11:30
It goes to the one using it.
11:30-11:33
And for us, we're just tools in God's hand.
11:35-11:35
So what do we do?
11:36-11:37
How do we make this about God?
11:38-11:46
Well, we're going to get to this here in just a couple of minutes, but especially in the latter part of this passage, Peter quotes Scripture.
11:48-11:54
Church, the Holy Spirit's power is going to manifest through the proclaiming of the Word of God.
11:56-11:57
Not your thoughts or opinions.
11:59-12:02
The Holy Spirit works with the Word of God.
12:04-12:07
We're going to see Peter model that so effectively.
12:08-12:18
So church, when you're witnessing to make it about God, first of all, no glory for myself, but also, make sure you're sharing to share the Bible with people.
12:20-12:24
God's Word is what God's Holy Spirit uses to get God's results.
12:26-12:28
I want to give you a couple of practical tips.
12:29-12:30
Jot these down.
12:32-12:36
Number one, you should know what you want to share with people when you have the opportunity.
12:38-12:42
You should have some Scriptures in mind to share with people when you have the opportunity.
12:45-12:51
In my opinion, the easiest - Romans 3.23, Romans 6.23.
12:53-12:58
Romans 3.23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." I talk to people about that.
12:58-12:59
Have you ever done anything wrong?
13:01-13:03
Have you ever known the right thing to do and you did something different?
13:03-13:04
Have you ever sinned?
13:06-13:07
Okay, we have a problem.
13:07-13:13
But Romans 6.23 says, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life Jesus Christ our Lord.
13:15-13:17
That's sharing the Word of God.
13:17-13:26
Whether you use those or some verses from the Gospels or whatever, you should have a couple of verses in mind that you want to share with people when you have the opportunity.
13:28-13:42
The second thing that I want to commend to you that I didn't really understand for years, but when you're sharing, you need to share as much as they want, as much as you want.
13:44-13:57
There have been so many times that I've had people in my office, I'm like, I'm going to share the Gospel with this guy, and I'm sitting there for an hour going through the Bible, and this one guy in particular, I just remember he sat there with his arms folded.
13:57-13:59
Literally, this was the look he had in his face.
14:01-14:04
He wasn't even trying to mask it like I'm pretending to be interested.
14:08-14:15
I look back on that and realize I was sharing long after he was done listening.
14:18-14:21
Share as much as they want, not as much as you want.
14:22-14:23
Because some people aren't ready.
14:27-14:32
That's why sometimes when I go to share the Gospel with people, I ask them, would you like to know what the Bible says?
14:32-14:33
Would you like to know?
14:37-14:40
You find that the circumstances of life ripen people to the Gospel.
14:40-14:44
Maybe somebody that you're trying to witness to now isn't ready, but maybe they'll be ready tomorrow.
14:46-14:55
Maybe the next time they see you, they've had a financial collapse, or they've had an illness come into their family, and they weren't too interested in the things of God then, but they sure are now.
15:00-15:01
So make it about God.
15:01-15:03
Make it about God's Word.
15:05-15:11
Another glorious thing about making it about God's Word is when they reject the Gospel, if they reject the Gospel, they're not rejecting you.
15:12-15:13
They're rejecting God.
15:17-15:22
You know, you could say, "Well, I think you need to come to church." And they're like, "Well, I don't want to come to your church." No, you just have a battle of opinions.
15:23-15:29
Instead if you say, "You know, the Bible says that all sin and falsehood are the glory of God." They say, "Well, I don't believe that." Well, now they're at issues with God, not with you, right?
15:31-15:32
Share the Word of God.
15:34-15:35
Number one, make it clear.
15:35-15:36
This is about God.
15:36-15:38
It's not about you or me or HBCU.
15:38-15:39
It's about God.
15:41-15:44
Secondly, make it clear.
15:45-15:49
We are guilty, but God is gracious.
15:52-15:55
We're going to look at verses 13-16 here first of all.
15:56-15:58
Look what Peter launches into.
16:00-16:04
Might I suggest to you something quite different than some of the people you see on television.
16:08-16:10
Peter getting into the meat of his sermon here.
16:10-16:28
He says the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when He had decided to release Him.
16:31-16:36
as you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.
16:36-16:41
And you killed the Author of life whom God raised from the dead.
16:41-16:43
To this we are witnesses.
16:45-16:51
And His name, by faith in His name, has made this man strong whom you see." That's the lame guy that got healed.
16:52-16:54
"Has made this man strong whom you see and know.
16:55-17:06
And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all." Peter comes right out of the gate.
17:08-17:13
He's like, "Alright guys, by the way, you're guilty." Remember Jesus?
17:14-17:19
And Pilate was like, "I find no fault in this man." Like what, six times or something?
17:19-17:21
Pilate's like, "I just want to let him go.
17:23-17:25
I don't see anything wrong with him.
17:25-17:28
He's an innocent man." And Peter's like, "Yeah, you remember that?
17:29-17:29
That's what you did?
17:30-17:31
Standing in the crowd.
17:31-17:33
Kill Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
17:33-17:34
You remember that.
17:38-17:39
He says you killed the Author of life.
17:43-17:56
Peter says, "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance also as your rulers, but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ would suffer, He thus fulfilled.
17:59-18:04
So then Peter turns around and says, this was God's plan.
18:06-18:11
You killed Him, but this was God's plan.
18:14-18:25
So when you're sharing the Gospel, you have to make really crystal clear that we are guilty, God is gracious.
18:27-18:29
The message is both, and we have to share both.
18:30-18:35
Some people sort of lean towards the "you are guilty" side.
18:37-18:45
And some people lean towards preaching a message that is just God is gracious.
18:46-18:47
You know, preachers like that, right?
18:49-18:49
You are guilty.
18:52-18:57
standing on a self-righteous platform preaching down to people, "You are dirt!
18:57-18:58
You are a hopeless sinner!
18:59-19:00
You should be ashamed of yourself!
19:01-19:01
Look at you!
19:03-19:05
God's judgment is coming on you!
19:05-19:13
Prepare yourself!" It's just all guilt, just all beating up, just all making people ashamed.
19:15-19:16
No grace.
19:17-19:29
When we were kids at the Methodist church that we went to growing up, There was this one part of a church service that I dreaded every single week as a kid.
19:30-19:35
And it was the part where they called all the kids in the church to come up front.
19:36-19:40
And then the preacher's wife would give a little message to the kids.
19:40-19:41
Do you remember that, Derek?
19:41-19:42
I hated that.
19:42-19:49
I remember every week just like sweating in the pew like, "Oh, I hope they don't do that this week." I hated that part of the service.
19:51-19:58
For one, I just hate the thought of standing in front of the church or being in front of the church.
19:58-19:59
That really makes me queasy.
20:00-20:27
But the other thing is that the preacher's wife - you know, we're like six, seven-year-old little kids, and the preacher's wife - we'd sit down and we'd have our dress shirts half tucked in, and we're sitting down ready for our children's sermon, and she'd be like, "You're going to hell, you little sinners!" That was like her sermon.
20:27-20:32
And I remember just like, don't make me go up there!
20:34-20:37
But some preachers, that's what they communicate.
20:38-20:41
But then there are some that go to the other side of the spectrum.
20:45-20:47
And it's just grace.
20:50-20:54
To say, you know, God has a wonderful plan for your life.
20:55-20:57
And just ask Jesus into your heart.
20:58-21:01
And you too can have God's best in every day as a Friday.
21:03-21:04
Or something like that.
21:05-21:06
But there's no mention.
21:07-21:08
There's no mention of sin.
21:08-21:10
There's no call to turn.
21:10-21:13
There's no mention of transformation by the power of the Spirit.
21:13-21:15
There's no mention of real life change.
21:16-21:19
But do you notice in this passage, do you notice Peter brought both?
21:20-21:21
Peter brought both in the same verse.
21:21-21:27
He's like, "You killed the author of life!" But this was God's plan because He loves you and wants to save you.
21:28-21:29
He gives both.
21:31-21:34
He gives both the hurt and the healing.
21:35-21:36
But I want you to notice something.
21:37-21:39
Look at v. 17 again.
21:39-21:41
This is so important when you're sharing the Gospel with people.
21:42-21:43
Do you see what Peter interjects here?
21:44-21:58
He says, "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers." There's a sense in which Peter here came alongside the people that he was preaching to.
21:58-22:03
He wasn't preaching down on them, but he's sort of sharing beside them.
22:04-22:07
And this comes from genuine compassion for the person.
22:09-22:11
You see, Peter didn't look at these people as a project.
22:12-22:14
And you shouldn't look at your co-worker as a project.
22:14-22:16
Well, I'm going to get this guy out of church.
22:16-22:17
That's my goal for 2016.
22:17-22:18
I'm going to get this guy out of church.
22:19-22:20
He ain't your project.
22:21-22:22
Peter had genuine compassion.
22:22-22:24
That's how he was able to come alongside them.
22:25-22:30
And there's a sense in which he's sympathizing with them.
22:32-22:36
Say, look, you acted in ignorance.
22:37-22:37
You did.
22:38-22:44
It's sort of like Jesus - 2334, when Jesus was being crucified.
22:44-22:45
You remember what He prayed?
22:45-22:47
"Father, forgive them." Why?
22:49-22:57
"For they do not know what they're doing." And Peter's sort of echoing that sentiment from Jesus to say, "Look, yes, you're wrong.
22:59-23:01
And I know you acted in ignorance.
23:03-23:16
And when you sympathize with people, you're coming alongside them." That's something I like to do to share the Gospel with people is include myself in this to say look, that was me.
23:17-23:18
Yes, you're a sinner.
23:19-23:22
Yes, you're alienated from God, but look, that was me too.
23:23-23:24
I need this message.
23:25-23:28
Look, I'm not just standing here telling you that you need a Savior.
23:28-23:30
I'm saying that we need a Savior.
23:31-23:32
I'm the same as you.
23:33-23:35
Born a sinner. Lost. Rebellious.
23:35-23:36
I need Christ.
23:36-23:38
You need Christ just as much as I need Christ.
23:40-23:41
We're in the same boat.
23:42-23:43
We're both guilty of sin.
23:43-23:45
We both deserve God's judgment.
23:45-23:54
But the good news is God loves us and He made a way so that our sins can be completely forgiven so that we can be born again so that we can be children of God.
23:56-24:01
People aren't interested in the Savior until they know they need saved.
24:02-24:06
People don't know they need forgiveness so they know they've offended a holy God.
24:07-24:12
People are going to see the good news of the Gospel as good news if they don't understand the bad news.
24:13-24:16
That's why Peter walked them through this to say, yeah, you know what?
24:16-24:18
You guys did a horrible thing.
24:18-24:19
And you are guilty.
24:21-24:22
But God had a plan.
24:23-24:25
So make it clear, we are guilty, but God is gracious.
24:27-24:30
And lastly, number three, write this down.
24:31-24:33
and make it clear a response is required.
24:35-24:37
A response is required.
24:39-24:50
I don't know what your translation says, but into verse 18, "God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ would suffer.
24:52-25:01
He thus fulfilled." My Bible doesn't say, "Then Peter walked away and said, Well, FYI, have a nice day.
25:03-25:06
You notice, he keeps going.
25:07-25:15
Because what he's showing them, what I'm going to show you, people need to understand when you witness to them, is a response is required.
25:15-25:17
They have to do something with the message.
25:19-25:21
Jesus died for your sins.
25:22-25:26
Just thought you'd like to know Your response is required.
25:28-25:34
Sometimes people think that they're Christian by default because it's just unclear to them that they need to make a decision.
25:35-25:39
There's times that you're maybe sharing with somebody that's not even hostile towards Jesus.
25:39-25:43
They might even be agreeing with your message, but they haven't embraced it.
25:45-25:50
And when you're sharing the Gospel, you need to call on a response, a decision.
25:50-25:52
What are you going to do with this message?
25:54-26:02
if you have a terminal illness and the doctor prescribes pills that will cure it, you can get on the Internet and read up on them.
26:02-26:03
You can study.
26:03-26:06
I agree that these things are going to cure my illness.
26:07-26:12
And you can set them on the shelf, but they're not going to do you any good unless you act upon the knowledge.
26:13-26:14
So we don't want to stop short.
26:15-26:16
Look at what Peter does.
26:17-26:17
(incomplete thought)
26:18-26:20
So what should we do as a result of all this, Peter?
26:21-26:32
In verse 19, he says, "Repent." "Repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out." He says repent. Turn back.
26:32-26:33
We're going to see again in verse 26.
26:33-26:35
Turn from wickedness.
26:37-26:40
Which is always step one in coming to God.
26:41-26:47
Repentance literally means a change of mind or a change of purpose which results in a change of action.
26:50-26:51
Turning to the Gospel means you share repentance.
26:54-26:55
And repentance is just simply this.
26:55-27:00
By nature, I'm walking in my sin and I'm walking away from God.
27:01-27:04
Repentance means I change my mind about that.
27:04-27:08
To say I'm enjoying this sin and I'm turning my back on God.
27:08-27:10
Repentance means I turn around.
27:10-27:14
I turn my back on my sin and I walk toward with God.
27:16-27:16
That's repentance.
27:20-27:20
from sin.
27:21-27:24
Like what in the world would motivate somebody to turn this ship around?
27:26-27:30
Like Peter, he gives two motivations you need to share with people.
27:30-27:31
Look at verse 19.
27:31-27:35
The first one, he says, that your sins may be blotted out.
27:37-27:39
Your sins may be blotted out.
27:40-27:48
The times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, that He may send to Christ, appointed for you, Jesus!
27:50-27:50
Stop there.
27:52-27:54
First benefit in repentance is this - there's benefits for you.
27:55-27:56
First motivation, rather.
27:57-27:59
First motivation for repentance is there are benefits for you.
28:01-28:02
Like what benefits?
28:02-28:07
Well, Peter says receiving Christ means that your sins are blotted out.
28:09-28:11
God no longer holds your sin against you.
28:11-28:13
You're not guilty. There's no shame.
28:14-28:15
Your record is erased.
28:18-28:20
God will never hold your sins against you.
28:20-28:21
They're blotted out. They're gone.
28:23-28:27
That's an immediate benefit, but notice Peter also gave a long-term benefit.
28:28-28:30
He said times of refreshing would come.
28:30-28:33
He's looking to the end of the age, but he's ultimately looking at Heaven.
28:35-28:40
You know, turning to Christ, there's benefits now, but there's also benefits long-term, stepping into eternity.
28:42-28:43
He gives a second benefit.
28:44-28:45
Look at verse 21 again.
28:45-28:59
He says, "Whom Heaven must receive, until the time for restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago." Something else that Peter is pointing out to the crowd is simply this - time is running out.
29:01-29:02
Time is running out.
29:02-29:04
You realize history has a finish line.
29:06-29:10
And we would also say that your life on earth has a finish line.
29:12-29:14
and you don't have forever to make a decision.
29:16-29:17
There's urgency in the Gospel.
29:18-29:20
What if this was your last day on earth?
29:21-29:24
Do you really want to step into eternity not knowing where you'll end up?
29:24-29:26
The good news is you can know exactly where you're going to end up.
29:27-29:29
Because God's made a promise through Jesus Christ.
29:32-29:33
Today's the day.
29:34-29:35
Today's the day. Time's running out.
29:36-29:36
That's the urgency.
29:37-30:02
I've shared with you before one time I was sharing a Gospel with a guy "So, you mean to tell me that I can live my whole life the way that I want, and if I receive Jesus on my deathbed, then I'll go to heaven? Is that true?" And I said, "Well, that's technically true, yeah, I guess." And he said, "Well, I'll just do that." And I said, "No, you won't." He said, "What do you mean, 'No, I won't'?" I said, "You're not going to do that.
30:04-30:06
How can you say that?" I said, "Well, I can say that for two reasons.
30:08-30:11
is, how do you know you're going to have a deathbed?
30:13-30:31
You know, this idea that someday I'm going to be lived to be 99 years old, and I'm going to be in bed, resting comfortably, and my family's going to be around, and then the minister's going to come, and that's the day I'll receive Jesus, and then five minutes after I pray the prayer, I'll step right into heaven.
30:32-30:33
How do you know you're going to have a deathbed?
30:36-30:39
heart attack, stroke, car accidents.
30:41-30:44
There are so many ways that your life can be over in an instant.
30:46-30:51
So banking on this deathbed idea, that's more rare than you think it is.
30:52-30:57
I said, but there's another reason that you're not going to give your life to Christ in your deathbed, and that's simply this.
30:58-31:04
For you to do that would require that you've spent this moment of your life forward constantly saying no to God.
31:04-31:06
And the Bible says that when you do that, to harden your heart.
31:07-31:15
Do you mean to tell me you're going to spend decades hardening your heart to God, and then all of a sudden at the last second your heart is warm and tender and open for the love of Jesus Christ?
31:16-31:20
Your heart is going to be so calloused at that point, you're not going to want to hear the name of Jesus.
31:21-31:24
Don't give me this deathbed story, okay?
31:27-31:28
Today's the day of salvation.
31:28-31:29
There's urgency.
31:30-31:30
There's urgency.
31:32-31:38
And you need to show people from the Bible - That Jesus is someone you have to deal with eventually.
31:40-31:41
And you have some options.
31:43-31:46
The Bible says that Jesus is a lamb, and the Bible says that Jesus is a lion.
31:49-31:50
Which one would you rather deal with?
31:52-31:54
He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
31:56-31:58
But when He comes back, He's the Lion of Judah.
31:59-32:02
And it's not to sacrifice Himself for His people.
32:02-32:04
He's already done that the second time He comes back.
32:05-32:08
and take care of all the people that have rejected their Creator.
32:10-32:12
I want you to see that's exactly what Peter does.
32:14-32:21
He shows the people through Scripture that Jesus is someone that they have to deal with.
32:21-32:23
Pick up in v. 22.
32:23-32:30
He says, "Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
32:30-33:05
You shall listen to Him in whatever He tells you, and it shall be that every soul "And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaim these days, 'You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham,'" more Scripture, Genesis 22, 18, "'and in your offspring shall all the families of Israel be destroyed.'" of the earth be blessed.
33:07-33:11
God's promise to Abraham to bless the world, that promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
33:13-33:21
God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.
33:23-33:29
Using scripture, Peter showed them, Jesus is someone that you have to deal with eventually.
33:31-33:32
The church, don't be discouraged.
33:34-33:36
when your opportunity comes to witness.
33:36-33:39
Remember that salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit.
33:39-33:44
He gives you power to be His witnesses, but the work of salvation is His.
33:44-33:48
And it always helps me to sort of keep this mindset when I'm witnessing to people.
33:48-33:52
You know, believe me, I wish that every day was Pentecost.
33:53-33:57
That anybody I shared the Gospel with immediately ran to get their baptism clothes on.
33:58-33:59
That's not always the case.
33:59-34:05
But can you keep the mindset of wherever this person is with the Lord, Can I help them get one step closer?
34:07-34:08
If you really want to grow as a witness.
34:09-34:18
If you're really radical about wanting to grow as a witness, the best way to do it is by witnessing.
34:19-34:20
It's like prayer, right?
34:21-34:22
You want to grow as a prayer?
34:22-34:24
You know the best way to learn how to pray?
34:24-34:25
By praying.
34:26-34:28
The best way to learn how to be a witness?
34:29-34:29
By witnessing.
34:30-34:33
I've shared with you before, I love the prison ministry.
34:34-34:39
You go in for two hours and you're just sharing the Gospel with these people who are hungry to hear it.
34:39-34:46
I'll tell you what, I wasn't so great at it by day one, but I'll tell you what, by like the 300th time I did it, I got a little better at it.
34:48-34:51
We're always looking for more people to get involved in that ministry, right Mark?
34:53-34:54
You'll grow as a witness.
34:54-34:56
So above all things, you want to be clear.
34:57-34:58
You want to be clear with the message.
34:58-34:59
It's about God.
35:00-35:04
You want to be clear that you're a sinner, but God is gracious.
35:06-35:10
You want to be clear that you have to respond to this message.
35:11-35:19
Maybe there's somebody here that you have somebody that you've been wanting to share with, but you just haven't been sure what to say or how to say it.
35:20-35:23
We want to invite you to come down front with our prayer team.
35:23-35:25
We want you to pray for that person that you want to witness too.
35:26-35:36
But while you're praying, You also need to be praying for yourself that you would get that opportunity and that you would seize that opportunity.
35:39-35:45
We have power from God's Holy Spirit to be Christ's witnesses.
35:47-35:51
Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word.
35:52-36:00
Father, I thank You for this incredible sermon that we have recorded in Your Word Peter shows us how to share the Gospel.
36:01-36:07
He showed us how to keep it God-centered and how to talk about sin and grace at the same time.
36:08-36:10
And how to call people to a response.
36:12-36:16
He showed us how to sympathize with people and come alongside them.
36:16-36:21
Not just beating people up, but showing how to be healed.
36:23-36:40
Father, I pray for this church We know that it's not like we can just open the doors of Marshall Middle School and people that need to know you are just going to somehow mysteriously meander in to give us the opportunity to witness here.
36:41-36:53
We know that your witnesses are sitting in these seats right now where you send us to work, who we live beside, who our family members are.
36:54-36:56
You are the missionaries to those people.
36:58-37:00
And so often, Father, we shrink back in fear.
37:02-37:04
But You have not given us a spirit of fear.
37:05-37:11
You have given us a Spirit - Your Spirit - that empowers us to be witnesses.
37:13-37:15
So I pray, Father, for a godly confidence.
37:17-37:24
I pray, Father, for more doors to open that we can talk about Your Son in His glorious Gospel.
37:27-37:28
Give us opportunity, Father.
37:29-37:30
Let us seize these opportunities.
37:31-37:37
But through it all, Father, we're trusting You to do what only You can do, and that's Your Holy Spirit changing people's hearts.
37:40-37:45
And we are just thankful for the privilege that You would use us at all.
37:48-37:52
Let Your glory be on display as Your Gospel goes forth, we pray in Jesus' name.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 3:11-26
What is hardest for you about witnessing? What is one area where you could do better?
How does the POWER of the Holy Spirit show up when you are WITNESSES?
Peter gave a balanced message, talking about man’s guilt and God’s grace. Which side do you seem to want to emphasize more when you get to talk about the Gospel?
Imagine you are witnessing to someone. How would you reply to these statements?
I think I will get serious about God later.
How can you know you are really saved?
It doesn’t really matter what you believe. Everyone is going to heaven if they are sincere.
Breakout Questions:
Pray for each of you to become better witnesses.